Earlier on in the week, we wrote to all the pro-Union MLAs presently serving at Stormont pointing out our belief that Unionists in Northern Ireland should be involved in helping out our pro-Union colleagues and friends in Scotland in their Referendum and asking them as our elected pro-Union representatives to assist in this task.
We were delighted to receive a reply from the leader of the UUP, Mike Nesbitt (here) and today this piece from Jim Allister.
Jim needs no introduction for N.Irish readers but for the benefit of those living elsewhere in the United Kingdom, he is the leader of Traditional Unionist Voice and represents North Antrim in the Northern Ireland Assembly. He was previously an MEP and represented Northern Ireland in Brussels for five years. He is also a senior barrister.
Our Stake in Scotland’s future: Jim Allister
I would accept that the issue of Scottish independence is a matter primarily for the people of Scotland, though it does affect the whole Kingdom. It is important for Unionists across the United Kingdom to explain why we wish them to be united to us and not break up the unity and integrity of this United Kingdom.
The links between Scotland and Northern Ireland are arguably greater than they are between Scotland and England. In spite of our separation by the Irish Sea, the cultural and historic connections are strong. One has only to think back to the Ulster Covenant, the centenary of which was celebrated just last month. Faced by a treacherous government in Westminster which planned to drive them out of the United Kingdom Unionists instinctively reached back into history and used the Scottish Covenants of the 17th century as a model upon which to build their own campaign.
In the Covenant of 1912 the people of Ulster pledged themselves to defend “for ourselves and our children, our cherished position of equal citizenship in the United Kingdom”. Sadly the values of the Covenant have been abandoned by many political leaders of Unionism in Northern Ireland today. They have accepted a second class citizenship where, alone among the countries which make up the United Kingdom, people are denied the fundamental democratic rights to vote a party out of government and have an opposition.
Scotland, however, has had a pivotal role in preserving that great system of government which Britain bequeathed to the world – parliamentary democracy.
And it was the United Kingdom which played a pivotal role in preserved democracy for Western Europe in two World Wars. Men from Northern Ireland and Scotland fought together and died together to preserve the values which allows the SNP to have the referendum. Had it not been for the united stand of all the constituent parts of the United Kingdom against foreign aggression none of us would have any say in how we should be governed.
But our links are not merely historic. Very many families in Northern Ireland have relatives who were educated in Scotland or have moved there to live. Tens of thousands of others visit every year.
The ongoing campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom has also caused Unionists here to have a keen interest in the campaign. While there are profound differences to say the least between Salmond’s entirely peaceful and constitution campaign for Scottish independence and the bloody sectarian terror tactics employed by Irish Republicans a decision by the Scottish people to end their union with the rest of the UK would undoubtedly be a significant moral boost for Republicans. Similarly, Unionists in Northern Ireland will doubtless deeply feel the loss of that part of the United Kingdom with which they have the strongest historic, cultural and emotional links.
So while it is up the Scottish people I nonetheless feel that Unionists in Northern Ireland have a part to play in reminding our Scottish cousins of why we feel so passionately that we want to be united politically not just to England and Wales but to Scotland as well.
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Aonghas
October 19, 2012 at 7:27 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Given the state of political,cultural and religious issues in Norn Irn, best get your own house in order before telling us what to do with ours.
Unionist MLAs & MPs consistently over estimate the level of empathy Scots have with Unionists in your ‘wee kintra’. The truth is that few care for or about Norn Irn,beyond a small minority.
IndependentEngland
October 19, 2012 at 8:19 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
“we feel so passionately that we want to be united politically not just to England and Wales but to Scotland as well”.
I think you will find that most English people are at best indifferent to being linked to N.Ireland. There is a growing feeling in England that the UK has become fairly meaningless from an English perspective and that it is in fact a costly exercise. That’s why more English people want Scottish independence than do Scottish people, according to the polls that is. Similar attitudes are held vis a vis N.Ireland.
Juteman
October 19, 2012 at 3:05 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
As i said on another thread, i still can’t understand why if you are an Ulster Scot, you are automatically against Scottish independence. If we Scots vote for independence, then that is the will of the Scottish people. It is the political union that would end. The union of the crowns will still be there if that is what matters?
oneill
October 19, 2012 at 3:53 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
“I think you will find that most English people are at best indifferent to being linked to N.Ireland.”
I am not sure (and I speak from personal experience) that the topic of Northern Ireland’s future would rank in the typical English person’s even Top 100 “interesting topics” List. And that’s fine, much rather that indifference than the hatred and murder that N. Irish Unionism suffered for its political beliefs and nationality in the 30 years of the Troubles.
During my time in London I would actually have heard the typical Southern Eneglish complain more often about having to subsidise parts of deprived England (Merseyside, the NE etc).
I welcome the present debate, for too long too many Unionists throughout the Uk have been too complacent about our nation’s future. Salmond’s crusade has at least shook them/us out of the comfortzone. I really believe that the various shades of nationalism in the Uk thought that they would be able to destroy our nation without us believing in the Union putting up so much of a whimper. They were wrong.
There is a growing feeling in England that the UK has become fairly meaningless from an English perspective and that it is in fact a costly exercise
oneill
October 19, 2012 at 3:57 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
“As i said on another thread, i still can’t understand why if you are an Ulster Scot, you are automatically against Scottish independence.”
The Ulster Scots are not a homogeneous group in terms of political, national identity or even religion; the majority would be against the split up of the UK for the reasons outlined in this and previous posts but I wouldn’t put it down as an automatic reaction by any means.
“If we Scots vote for independence, then that is the will of the Scottish people.”
Neither myself in my previous post or Jim Allister here have argued otherwise. It’s ultimately your decision but we, as do the English and the Welsh, do have a stake in that decision and we are merely expressing an opinion about that.
Henry
October 19, 2012 at 4:32 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
The situation in Northern Ireland and Scotland has very little in comparsion. NI from its beginning, as history cleary shows, was made undemocratically against the wishes of the Irish people since Ireland was then a single entity and Lord Carson didnt support or sign his name in favour of creation of Northern Ireland, he wanted all of ireland to remain in the British Union, again, against the wishes of the vast majority of Irish. So the NI troubles is a very complex situation and i feel Mr Allister is one sided when it comes to that. The Independence of Scotland is a matter totally and soley up to the people of Scotland whether they want the full control and governing of their country, not the people of Northern Ireland. If there were to be a referendum held for independence of England, you can be pretty certain that that referendum would end in a Yes for England being independent judging by the mood of the english people. As a scottish nationalist myself and a supporter of Scottish independence, it all comes down to what the majority in Scotland want and the situation in Northern Ireland doesnt influence me in the slightest, my concern is for Scotland, not Northern Ireland.
Juteman
October 19, 2012 at 7:20 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
I hear what you are saying Henry, but i want the Ulster Scots (if they are Scots) to follow the home country on its journey. Being a Scot is not bending the knee to anyone. From my limited knowledge, the English fleet lay offshore, whilst the Scots fought on the walls of Derry?
State of the Union: November 2012 » Open Unionism
November 8, 2012 at 9:26 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
[...] “Our Stake in Scotland’s Future” – Responding to our call for responses, TUV leader Jim Allister explains why he believes Ulster unionists should engage with the Scottish question in the years ahead. [...]
Scotland and Northern Ireland: Intimate strangers, or just strangers? » Open Unionism
January 14, 2013 at 7:06 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
[...] Allister’s piece outlined the links between Scotland and Northern Ireland, both historical and contemporary. Despite having something of a checklist feel to it, the conviction was clear and blunders were mercifully avoided. I was mildly optimistic that this intervention might herald a period of restrained, constructive, even forward-thinking dialogue between those in Scotland and Northern Ireland who value the union. [...]